Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley
The village of Moret-sur-Loing on, fifty kilometres south of Paris, was a source of inspiration for the Impressionists, with Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro all visiting at the turn of the century. Similarly to his fellow Impressionists, Sisley was also captivated by Moret. He moved to the village in 1889, and remained there until his death in 1899.
In Moret Sisley’s enduring fascination with plein-air painting flourished, and enabled his focus on atmosphere and the changing effects of nature. Made popular by the Impressionists, plein-air painting took artists from the studio to outside, painting the their surroundings as they saw them in that moment. Repeatedly painting views of Moret allowed Sisley to capture the same view in different weather, light and times of day.
In ‘Chemin à l’entrée d’un bois’ the vista is bathed in bright sunlight. Swift, short brushstrokes convey the movement of a gentle breeze upon the grass and in the trees, while dashes of green and yellow emulate dappled light. The densely wooded area is the Forest of Fontainbleau, immortalised by the painters of the Barbizon School, Corot, Rousseau and Daubigny fifty years earlier.
Sisley’s paintings of Moret-sur-Loing from this period are greatly revered with many now being in international museums: ‘Evening in Moret, End of October’, 1888 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid), ‘Rue Eugènge Moussoir at Moret: Winter’, 1891 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), ‘Allée de peupliers aux environs de Moret-sur-Loing’, 1890 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
Provenance
Paul Aubry, Paris
Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 10 May 1897, lot 30 (consigned by the above)
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above)
Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above)
Galerie Georg Caspari, Munich (acquired from the above in 1917)
E. K. Königs, Hamburg (acquired from the above in 1932)
Estate of E. K. Königs (by descent from above)
Kunstsalon Hermann Abels, Cologne (acquired from the above in 1952)
Dr. Curtius, Krefeld (acquired from the above in 1952)
Otto Wolff von Amerongen, Cologne
Private Collection, Europe (acquired by descent from the above)
Sotheby's, London, 24 June 2015, lot 43 (consigned by the above)
Private Collection (acquired from the above)
Exhibitions
London, Royal Academy of Arts; Paris, Musée d'Orsay and Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Alfred Sisley, 1991, no. 43
Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, Alfred Sisley: der wahre Impressionist, 2011-2012, p. 199, illus.Literature
F. Daulte, Alfred Sisley: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Éditions Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1959, no. 755, illus.
S. Brame and F. Lorenceau, Alfred Sisley: Catalogue critique des peintures et des pastels, Lausanne, 2021, no. 881, pp. 327 and 496, illus.